be AUDacious: scrapbooking crushes

I love looking through the galleries, checking out the work of my favorite scrappers. I am always amazed at some of the clever and downright incredible techniques and designs that scrappers come up with; a quick look through any gallery usually leaves me inspired and ready to scrap.

There are a handful of scrappers, though, whose work impresses me on a constant basis. These scrappers consistently put out fresh work that never fails to make me wish I could scrap just like them. Here's a peek at my favorite scrappers and what I try to take away from their work every time I look at a new page.

1. Jen Jockisch
I absolutely adore Jen, first of all. I've been lucky enough to meet her in real life, at a SIStv event in Nashville, and she was honestly one of the scrappers I enjoyed meeting the most. She's very down-to-earth, and funny, and real, not to mention totally sweet.

Jen's work reminds me of a perfect patchwork quilt. She mixes color and patterns with ease, and her pages have this great vintage-inspired vibrancy that just makes me smile every time I see them.

What Jen's work teaches me:
1. Dimension is a great way to add visual interest to a page (and I can still do this with digital just by adjusting the height on my shadows).
2. Pay attention to the scale and size of a pattern -- and don't be afraid to mix multiple patterns.
3. A kraft or white background adds just the right touch of neutral to ground a busy color scheme.

2. Dagmar (formerly known as lenasmommy)
I've "known" (in that weird, only-on-the-internet way) Dagmar longer than anyone else on this list. In fact, she was one of the first people I ever "met" through scrapbooking. It was back in 2002 or 2003, something like that, and we had both tried out for a paper company's design team (it was Cactus Pink -- does anybody else remember how huge their application pool ended up being? It was insane how many people tried out for a team whose products they HAD NEVER EVEN SEEN!) Anyway, we were both really upset that we hadn't made the team, and spent a good bit of time chatting back and forth. That helped to put things in perspective for me, and Dagmar and I went on to be involved in a couple more projects together (Reality Scrapbooking, plus others). She made the switch to digi just about the time I did, and I've loved watching her signature style develop.

Dagmar's layouts are subtle and whimsical and full of cleverly placed tiny details; every time I see one, I think "Wow! Why didn't I ever think to do that?"

What Dagmar's work teaches me:
1. Spend more time capturing the things my kiddos say -- because I'm going to want to remember them. Dagmar is absolutely genius at recording the conversations she has with Lena, and they make me smile.
2. Pay attention to the tiny details. Just the addition of a couple of stitches in one corner, or a few tiny flowers alongside a photo frame can really make a design sing.
3. Spend time processing your photos. Dagmar treats every photo like a work of art, and it really adds a level of wow to her layouts.

3. Peppermint
There are so many things I love about Peppermint. I love that her name really is Peppermint. I love how funny she is. I love how she writes. I love that her blog is called "Frick on a Stick (and other unladylike things)." I think she would just be a riot to hang out with, sharing laughs and a few beers. She just seems like that kind of person, you know? I've only been aware of Peppermint's work for about a year; we met through {we are} storytellers, and every layout she does becomes my new favorite.

Peppermint's layouts are fairly minimalist, but in a way that makes complete sense to me: every single detail is there because it helps to tell the story. That's what I've been aiming for all along, and she does it so effortlessly.

What I can learn from Peppermint's layouts:
1. Every picture has a story -- get it told. I love how she's able to take what seems like a standard portrait shot and match it with a story that instantly adds an entirely new layer of personality and meaning to the photograph.
2. Make every part of a layout serve double duty. There's no need to pile tons of items on my layouts; choose carefully, and make each item count.
3. Tell your stories, even if you don't have the photos to go along with them.

I'm always looking for new favorites to stalk admire. Leave me a comment and link me up to the gallery of one of your favorite scrappers; what do you learn from looking at that person's work?